


Church - Klance

by natehasnoclue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Religious Conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25994107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natehasnoclue/pseuds/natehasnoclue
Summary: "This is so wrong, we can't do this.""Then why does it feel so right?"In which Lance McClain is the son of the church pastor and Keith Kogane is the rebellious son of a family in the church.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 180





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction will deal with the talk of religion and some of the stricter ideologies that it holds. In no way am I saying that all religious people hold these beliefs, the strictness of these characters is for the plot of the story. There may also be mentions or suggestions of abuse, if this triggers you, please do not read or if you chose to, proceed with care for yourself.
> 
> I myself am not religious so there may be times when something is incorrect, please comment and tell me, I will fix it.
> 
> If anything to do with religion or talk about it offends you and you feel it may impair your enjoyment of the story, I suggest you don't read.

Lance sat on the first row of benches at the church, his family was the only family that did. It was as if the seats were reserved. His hands were on the bible, but his mind was wandering. As his father read the verses of the Bible aloud to the congregation, Lance was focused on the stained-glass window beside the cross at the front of the church. The sun was hitting it in just the right way, the same way it always did on Sundays. The colors were pouring through the windows and blending onto the faces of the people around him.

The pastor stopped his reading when the door slammed shut with a bang, a disruption to the service. Lance, along with many others, turned to see who came into the church with such a disruption. Two of them were faces that he recognized one of them, however, was new. He wore all black aside from a red jacket, even down to his knuckles. On his hands were fingerless gloves which still couldn't quite conceal the purple bruises on his knuckles, no doubt from fighting with another person.

The two people the boy walked in with he knew as Mrs. and Mr. Kogane, he didn't know their first names, only their last names. They kept to themselves most of the time and left soon after the service was finished unlike many of the others who attended. This boy obviously didn't fit in with them, he was different.

Lance tore his gaze from the boy and tried to focus on the bible and fall back into his Sunday routine.

Every Sunday was the same, wake up at six-thirty and eat breakfast at seven-thirty so that his family could be at the church half an hour before the service began. His father was the pastor of the church so he'd been religious his whole life, every Sunday it was the same routine with the same people and the same verses being read over and over again.

The new boy added a change, it was a different face, a change in the routine.

Lance felt an elbow to his side and glared at Veronica, his sister, who motioned for him to look back up to his father in a way to tell him to pay attention. His whole family was strict on religion, everything had to be in God's plan and nothing could differ, anyone who did was a sinner.

While Lance was never as strict as his parents, he knew not to go against them, so he followed along and tried to push away any unholy thoughts or feelings he had. He was just glad that it was Veronica who noticed him not paying attention and not anyone else, like him, she was a bit more relaxed as well.

Lance looked up to his father once more but the boy stayed in his mind and so did all the verses that he reminded him of.

-

After the service, the Kogane family stayed later than normal and got into a line to speak with the pastor which Lance, in all his years of being at the church with his family, had never seen them stay later. Lance stood at the front of the church near his father, only around six-feet away so if people wanted their privacy when talking to him they could have that.

"Hello Mrs. and Mr. Kogane, it's a pleasure to speak with you." Joseph, Lance's father smiled as he greeted them.

"You as well, Father." Mrs. Kogane smiled, "We're sorry for the interruption today, we had some trouble getting out of the house." As she spoke, Mr. Kogane glared at the boy with them.

"Not to worry, may I ask, who is this with you today? I don't believe I've seen him before." Lance turned his head and made eye contact with the boy with the Kogane's only to find he was already staring at him.

"This is Keith our only son. He attended when he was a child, but later in life he lived with my sister to fix out some attitude issues." Mrs. Kogane smiled, Keith's eye contact with Lance broke when his father pushed him forward a bit to look at the pastor. Lance watched and felt bad for the boy who didn't fit in with his parents.

"It's a pleasure to have you attending church again, young man." Joseph smiled at Keith who didn't say anything in return.

Keith's father cleared his throat and gave Keith another small shove, "Pardon his manners, he is not the most well-behaved boy. Unlike your Lance here, he seems so well behaved."

Veronica laughed at this, not loud, just so that Lance could hear. He glared at her before his mother stepped in, "He is, most of the time anyway."

"You see, you should behave more like Lance here, he'd be a great influence for you." Mrs. Kogane looked at Keith as she spoke.

"Well, how about this afternoon our two boys meet up with each other, I'm sure with him just getting back he'd want some peers, Lance can introduce him to his friends." Lance's mother recommended.

Lance looked up at his mom and then to Keith, he was intrigued by the boy, but he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful! How about Keith stays with Lance today then, he'll be able to find his way home tonight." Mrs. Kogane smiled.

"Lance, you go with Keith then, be back at the house by three." The pastor said smiling at his son.

Lance looked at his watch, it was ten-thirty five now, so they had lots of time although Lance wasn't sure they'd use it all. He'd likely be at the house earlier than his set time. He nodded at his parents and then to the Koganes and walked down the church aisle with Keith, neither of them saying anything until they got outside when Keith was the first to speak.

"Wow, how can you stay in there for so long and not go crazy? It's so righteous and mighty." Keith groaned.

"I've never noticed anything wrong with it." Lance lied, he knew he did.

"You're also the pastor's son. You have to say that." Keith looked at Lance, "I bet you've never done anything your parents would get mad at you for."

For some reason, Lance was offended. He knew that it should be a compliment, but coming from him, that was an insult. "I have!"

"Oh ya? Like what?" Keith cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, I've lied, I've been greedy-" Keith cut Lance off.

"How about something that isn't one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I mean a real 'sin'." Keith used his fingers to put air quotations around the word "sin".

Lance stayed quite.

"I thought so."

"I can though." Lance sputtered, "I can sin."

Keith laughed, "Anyone can say that they can sin, Lance. But not everyone can follow through with it. That's what you can't do, that's why we're different."

"But I can." Lance was surprised, ten minutes ago he was standing beside his father as people confessed their sins, now he was saying he was able to. He was trying to convince Keith that he could in fact sin.

"Really?"

Lance nodded quickly, "But you'll have to help me."

Keith laughed a bit thinking that Lance was joking "Help you to sin?" Lance nodded again.

"Alright," Keith started, "I don't know how long I'm here before my parents send me back to my aunts again, but before I go I'll teach you to sin."


	2. 2

The two boys sat on two sings at a park not too far from the church, Keith had nearly finished his icecream while Lance had his dripping down his fingers as he hurriedly tried to eat it before the heat did.

Lance laughed, nearly falling off the swing as he did, "Wait, you did what?"

"My brother and I were running from the police for something stupid, I can't even remember what now, but I tried to climb the fence but I slipped on the jump and my shirt got caught. I was hanging from the fence by my shirt when they found me." Keith chuckled lightly as the memory.

"I thought your parents said you're their only son?" Lance asked, confused as to why Keith said 'my brother'.

"I am, but when I went to live with my aunt I was also living with my cousin, Shiro, he and I got really close and I see him as my brother." Keith explained.

"So did your brother get away then?" Keith nodded to Lance's question, "And what about you, did you get charged?"

"I was a minor then and I was only with my brother, I wasn't committing any crime so I didn't get any charge."

Lance was fascinated by Keith, he wasn't afraid to do what he wanted, he didn't stop to think about the consequences he'd have, not only from this justice system but also the religious consequences. His whole life he was taught to think of the consequences of his action, not just in this life, but also in the after-life.

Lance continued to eat his ice cream which was melting faster by the second, "You said you were a minor then, so how old are you?"

"I'm nineteen." Keith responded, "What about you?"

Lance sighed, his ice cream was melting faster and faster, and with the last attempt to eat it, it had fallen off of the cone and onto the ground beneath the swing. "I'm seventeen, almost eighteen." He scooped the icecream off the ground and back into the cone before walking to a garbage bin a few meters away and threw it away.

Lance looked at his watch, it was one now, he had two hours.

"Do you ever get mad at religion? Not at religion itself, but how people use it?" Keith asked. He'd been meaning to ask it all day.

Lance walked back to his seat on the swing and thought about it, "Sometimes, but then I remind myself that they're only doing it to remind themselves of their faith."

"You don't even get mad at people using it to justify things that are wrong?" Keith questioned.

Lance tilted his head a bit, "Like what kind of things?"

"Like homophobia, racism, sexism. Those kinds of things."

Lance didn't answer, instead, he asked his own question, "Why did you have to leave your parent's house?"

Keith didn't answer, instead, he just looked away and Lance knew that he had brought up a sensitive topic.

"Do you have a phone?"

Lance brought his phone out of his pocket and nodded, "Ya, why?"

"Well, I want to be able to talk to you if we're going to be friends." Keith was already reaching for Lance's phone as he spoke.

"Are you trying to ask for my phone number?" Lance questioned

"What else does it look like?" Keith replied rolling his eyes. Lance handed Keith his phone, "I doubt my parents will let me meet up with people often, they're still pretty strict on what I can and can't do."

"You're nineteen, you can do what you want though." Lance watched as Keith typed into his phone, likely putting his phone number in there.

"Just because legally I can do whatever I want, that doesn't mean I'm able to. I still live with them, so in their eyes, I have to follow what they say." Keith handed lance his phone back.

Lance sent a quick text to Keith saying 'Hey, it's Lance', "I just texted you so now you can put my number into your phone." 

Keith nodded, "So, church boy, why are you so eager to sin?"

Lance picked at his nails, "It's not that I'm eager too, it's just that you seem so care-free and you don't need anyone to tell you what to do. You're not constantly searching to know if what you're doing is okay you can just do it. I've always wanted to be like that, but I can't. Or, at least, I have never been able to."

"You still care though, you still want people to be okay with you, just because you sin, it doesn't mean that you don't care anymore. I still care, but I don't let other peoples feelings affect what I do. That's the hardest part, Lance." Keith explained, he wanted to make sure that Lance understood what he was getting into.

"I know that, but I don't want religion to hold me back anymore. There's so much that I want to do but that I can't do." As Lance was explaining thoughts came into his head, the thoughts he'd had about boys in the past, nothing in a sexual way, but the attraction he felt to girls, he also felt to boys. Each time one of these thoughts came into his head he would recite the same verses to get rid of them or to tell himself that it was wrong, but he knew he couldn't change it. He knew that his feelings went agaist the bible in may ways. That scared him but at the same time, he couldn't hide the feeling of excitement that he felt when he thought of boys.

Keith nodded, he could tell there was something that made Lance want to do this, but he also knew about how hard it would be especially for him with his family dynamic since his dad was the pastor of the church. "Okay." Keith stood up from his swing, "There are some people I want you to meet, they're two friends of mine. I kept in contact with them when I was gone and was going to meet up with them today, you can come if you want."

Lance nodded and stood up from his swing and began to follow Keith to wherever they would be meeting up with his friends.

Within half an hour, the boys were on the other side of the town at a coffee shop. Two people were sitting outside of the shop together talking who Keith seemed to know.

"Pidge, Hunk." Keith called out to get their attention, quickly both stood up and ran over wrapping him in a hug.

"Guys, this is Lance. Lance, this is Pidge and Hunk. I think they're both closer to your age, I met Pidge through my brother, he's friends with their brother and Hunk is close to their family."

Pidge waved their hand at Lance, "Hey, I'm Pidge." Lance smiled at Pidge he noticed how Keith had used gender-neutral pronouns for them. He had never met anyone who went by neutral pronouns since no one in his church or his religious highschool had gone by them, but he knew to respect them.

Unlike Pidge, Hunk wasn't so reserved in his greetings, he hugged Lance like he'd hugged Keith.

Keith laughed, "He's a hugger."

Lance smiled when Hunk let go, "I can see that. It's okay, I am too." Lance stated with the group for another hour before he went home so he could be back home before three as his parents had said.

His family felt boring compared to Keith and his friends, they didn't care. His family did. Lance could be himself around the three friends, but not his family.

The rest of the evening was boring until he got a text from Keith I went to my aunts because I'm gay.


	3. 3

It had been a week since Lance and Keith first met and went to the park and the older was right, his parents had been strict on when he could leave the house to see people so the pair mainly relied on texting to communicate with each other.  
Keith hadn't said much about why he went to his aunt's house other than the text he sent saying it was because he's gay, Lance understood that it was a touchy subject so he didn't bring it up.  
"Mijo, are you ready to go?" Lance heard his mother's voice from the other side of the door since it was Sunday, his family was getting ready to go to the church before the service began.  
"Sí mamá." Lance's family was a Cuban family, he was born and raised there for the first few years of his life but they'd moved to America when Lance was ten. His dad was already religious in Cuba and was on his way to become the pastor of the church there, but in search of a better life, they'd moved to America where his father continued his religious work.  
Lance was more excited about church today, usually, he had stuck to the same routine which included the same feelings about the service which were usually an indifference towards it. Not for any bad reason, but lately with his conflict with religion and his thoughts of boys, he was uncomfortable in the church. He felt like a sinner like he had no right to be sitting on the first bench acting righteously when he knew he was sinning to everyone.  
Today, however, he felt excited, excited to see the rebellious boy whose family saw him as an insult to religion, maybe that made him even more of a sinner than his inner-conflicts did.  
As lance walked towards the kitchen, he heard his mom speaking to his dad, "I heard that the Kogane's boy got into some trouble this week already. He and some of his friends were being irresponsible with the law again."  
"Well have to see, if he keeps getting into trouble I don't want our boy around him. I know he's not a bad person, no one is, but he's a bad influence for Lance." He listened from around the corner as his dad replied, he knew they were talking about Pidge and Hunk, those had to be the friends Keith was with.  
"Everyone deserves a chance, dear. Today at church we'll see them." Lance took this as his que to walk into the kitchen to which his parents promptly stopped talking about Keith.   
There was already some eggs toast cooked up for breakfast and his siblings were already and had begun to eat.  
\-----  
As his father recited the bible, Lance took small glances a few rows back towards the Kogane family who had decided to sit closer towards the front today, unlike last week.  
However, that wasn't the reason why Lance kept looking back, the specific verse that Lance's father was reading was the exact one that caused him so much distress over the past few years, the same one that made him grow distant from religion and the same one that had caused Keith to be relocated.  
"Man shall not lay with man." As soon as he heard those words, Lance tuned out the whole service. In his opinion, something like a religion that's meant to spread love and faith in hard times shouldn't be the root of hate being spread to a specific group of people.  
The entire service went on with him holding the bible in his hands, but his mind being elsewhere. He couldn't help but notice the irony in the situation, Lance was surely expected to be the next pastor of the church, yet here he was staring at a boy at the same time that he was being told it was a sin.  
Lance looked up to the cross at the front of the church and then turned his focus to Keith who, unexpectedly, had already been looking at him. The two locked eyes for a moment, both losing all focus on the service going on. Lance broke the eye-contact quickly when Keith smirked at him smugly. This action sent Lance's mind into a religious panic, he reminded himself that he should be focusing on the teachings that he was to be learning and being holy like his parents had raised him to be.  
He pushed the boy out of his mind and focused on his father's words while not realizing that Keith's gaze was still on him for the rest of the service.  
\-----  
The McClain family stood at the front of the church as a line was formed by the followers of the church either wanting to confess something to their pastor or to thank him for the service. The Kogane’s of course were in this line.  
"Thank you, Pastor, that was a great service." Mr. Kogane thanked Lance's father while his wife spoke to his mom.  
"Mrs. McClain, I wanted to invite your family over for dinner tonight as a thank you for allowing Lance to meet with Keith. Your son is a delightful boy, I do hope that his actions will rub off on our son." As she spoke she stared at Keith with a disapproving look. The whole time, Keith was looking at Lance, not saying anything, but his look still managed to tell Lance that he wanted to talk with him.  
"That sounds lovely, doesn't it Joseph." Lance's father looked over when he heard his wife mention his name to which she continued, "The Kogane's have invited us for dinner tonight." Neither Joseph nor anyone else in the family had a chance to give their thoughts before, "And please, call me Selene. Mrs. McClain is too formal."  
Mrs. Kogane nodded but didn't say anything about her name, "Perfect, dinner tonight then. Does five o'clock work?" She asked, satisfied when Selene nodded, "We'll see you all then."  
As their family started to walk away, Keith spoke up, "Actually, I wanted to speak to Lance quickly. I'll be home right after you guys are."  
"You'd better be." His father glared at him then continued walking down the aisle with his wife leaving the boy with the McClain family.  
Keith motioned for Lance to follow him to the back of the church which he did. They were still in sight of Lance's family, but this way they had more privacy.  
"I saw you during the service."  
Lance gave a small laugh, "Of course you saw me, I sat in front of you. You had to see me."  
"Not like that." Keith rolled his eyes and sighed, "I mean I saw you not paying attention and looking at me."   
Lance felt his breath stop quickly but he managed to convince himself that Keith didn't know about his feelings for boys, he didn't know about his confusion. Keith only knew now that Lance didn't focus in church.   
"So, lots of people don't always pay attention in church, you don't."  
"I'm not the pastor’s son, I don't have to. Plus everyone in this church already knows about me and how I'm bad news." Keith used his fingers to quote 'bad news'.   
Lance thought about it and he did have a point, he was the pastor’s son. If anyone was expected to pay attention to the pastor’s words it would be him.  
"I don't always need to pay attention though. I've been coming to church since before I can remember. I'm sure I have the whole book memorized by now."  
Keith faked gasped, "Do I hear the pastor’s boy talking bad about God?" He smirked at Lance, "Isn't that considered a sin in itself?"  
He tried to defend himself but he was unable to. Keith laughed, "Look at you, only a week of knowing me and already sinning."  
Lance heard his name being called by his mom, he used this to his advantage and began to walk up to the front of the church for whatever he was needed for.  
"I'll see you at dinner." He waved to Keith as he walked away trying not to give in to the realization that Keith made it feel too easy to sin. It felt okay.


	4. Chapter 4

Lance sat awkwardly at the table, he was sitting across from Keith, his sister was sitting beside him and his parents were across from Mrs. and Mr. Kogane. Everyone had finished eating their dinner, which was steaks and rice, and was trying to find something that could start a conversation without making the situation more awkward. 

"So Lance," Mrs. Kogane started, "do you know what you're going to be doing after you finish school?" Before he had a chance to respond, his mother had spoken for him.

"Lance is going in to be the next pastor after Joseph. That's what we want at least." Selene smiled at her son, "Right, honey?"

Lance nodded, not saying anything in return so that he could silently agree with the statement, he knew what he wanted to do and it wasn’t that. He could see Keith staring at him from the side of his vision. He had been the whole night though it wasn’t awkward. It was comforting really, he knew that there was at least one other person at the table who didn’t want their whole life planned out. Lance found comfort knowing that he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

"That's wonderful! Such a lovely idea." Mrs. Kogane agreed and then she turned her attention to Lance himself, "May I just say, Lance, you're really such an amazing boy.”  
Veronica chuckled at this leading Lance to lightly elbow her as Mrs. Kogane continued speaking, “You have your values in the right places." 

"Thank you." Lance responded, looking between Mrs. and Mr. Kogane, "Keith is too when I got to know him last week, he seems like a very nice kid." He could see Keith smile.

Mr. Kogane lightly scoffed, "He's a nice boy, he just needs to learn to trust the Lord and follow His ways rather than his own selfish ones."  
Everyone in the McClain family could see how uncomfortable Keith was when his father spoke. 

"May I be excused?" Keith stopped the conversation about him quickly, "Lance and I were saying we wanted to talk more, just get to know each other. We only just got introduced last week and we want to get closer.”  
Keith looked back at Lance and stared intensely, "Right, Lance?"

He nodded, even though there were no plans, he understood the hint, "Ya, Keith and I didn't get to talk about all we wanted to last week. Can we go into his room?"

The Kogane’s wouldn't have believed Keith if it were just him saying that they wanted to talk, but since Lance had agreed his smiled, "Of course, I'm glad you're being such a good influence on him, Lance. He’s already so much more well-behaved when you’re here."  
He nodded and stood up from the table, not saying anything in regards to their last statement. Lance followed Keith to his room, closing the door behind the two of them.

"You're a good liar, I wouldn't have expected that." Keith sat on his bed, patting the space beside him to tell Lance to sit down.

"It wasn't really lying."

"There were no plans to talk again, I just wanted out of that conversation, and you agreed and said there were, you lied."

Lance knew he lied, and he knew that he was okay with the fact that he did, but he wanted to change the conversation, "I'm sorry about how that conversation out there went. They shouldn't have been saying those things about you."

Keith shrugged and laid back on the bed, his hands clasped under his head to support it, "They bring it up whenever they have the chance. Especially when they're with someone from the church."

Lance copied Keith's position and laid back too, "It still doesn't give them the right to talk about you badly."

Keith looked over at Lance who was still looking up at the ceiling, "My parents think you'll help me, they think you're a good influence and will 'teach me the holy ways'." Keith quoted his parents.

Lance chuckled and turned his head to look at Keith, "My parents think you're a bad influence. They’re scared I'll start sinning." Neither of the two boys realized how close their noses were, they were almost touching.

"Maybe they're right. I did catch you not paying attention in the church service today and you just lied, not only to your parents but mine too." Keith responded.

"Maybe, but how am I supposed to be a good influence on you if the only thing your parents see as bad is something neither you nor I can change. I can't change your sexuality and neither can you." As Lance explained this to Keith, he thought about it for himself. He was so scared to come out because of what his family would think of him, what the church would think about him but here he was explaining to Keith that it was okay and that he can't change it.

"You don't have a problem with me being gay, do you?" Keith looked at Lance more intensely, he could see the worry in Keith's eyes as he asked.  
This boy had only known rejection his only life, he had always been told that the attraction he felt to other boys was the thing that damned him.

"No of course not."That would be hypocritical of me anyway."

Keith raised an eyebrow in a questioning way, "What do you mean it would be hypocritical?"

Lance took a breath, bracing himself for the words he was about to say, "I'm like you. Well, not exactly like you since I still like girls but I also like boys.” He tilted his head, “Actually, I think I like them more."

"You're bi?" Keith smiled. Lance didn't respond verbally but he nodded and smiled back at Keith.

"That's cool." He laughed.

"Ya." Lance nodded, "You're the first person I've ever told." He confessed.

Keith's jaw dropped a bit, "You've never come out to another person before?"

Lance shook his head, "No, I was always too scared to. I didn't even know another person who was something other than straight, or, not out at least."

"Well, now you do." Keith smiled. 

Suddenly Lance realized how close his and Keith's faces were and looked back up at the ceiling of Keith's bedroom.  
"I guess I won't be such a good influence on you, huh?"

Keith turned his head and looked up at the ceiling too, "You'll be a great influence. Maybe not in the way my parents hoped, but you'll still be an influence on my attitude I'm sure."

It was then that the boys heard a knock at Keith's door.  
They both quickly sat up and moved further away from each other so whoever it was wouldn't get the wrong idea and have the two boys not see each other anymore.  
"Lance, mijo, we're going home now. Say goodbye." Selene looked at Lance and at Keith quickly. He could tell that she thought he was bad for Lance, most people would.

Lance stood up from the bed and looked at Keith, "We'll make plans again soon?"

"Of course." Keith smiled at Lance and nodded and then he turned to his mom, "Thank you for coming over, and for allowing Lance to see me."

Her gaze softened a bit, "Of course."

\-----

Lance laid in his bed trying to fall asleep but the events from the day stayed present in his mind. He'd come out for the first time today.  
Maybe it wasn't huge and it was only to one person, but to him, it was everything.  
That wasn't what was keeping him up though, he knew what was keeping him up. It was the feeling he'd felt before and always pushed away. This feeling was that of a developing crush.


	5. 5

Five days had passed from the dinner and Lance was in a situation he didn't think he'd be in. He, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk were all at a park table at the same park that Lance and Keith went to when they first met up together.

It was dark out, only the street lamps a few feet away from where they were lit up the park. He had snuck out of his house through the window in his room when he'd gotten a text from Keith about the meet up he was currently at. Both boys knew that if Lance had asked to meet up with Keith during the day, he'd be able to but only for a few hours due to his parent's lack of trust towards the older boy so they had come up with the plan to begin meeting at night.

Two weeks ago, if someone had told Lance that he would come out to someone and then sneak out of his house to go see this boy and his friends, he wouldn't have believed them yet here he was laughing with the other three.

Pidge and Hunk were on the bench at one side of the picnic table, Keith and Lance were sitting opposite of them on the other bench.

"So, Lance, if your parents are so strict about what you do and where you go how are you still able to see Keith?" Pidge questioned, they had turned their attention from Hunk to him.

"Keith's parents think I'll be a good influence on him, I guess my parents think I'm trying to get Keith to be religious." Lance explained.

"And are you?" Hunk asked. Lance assumed that the other two weren't religious or weren't from religious families since the church that Lance attended and that his family worked at was the only church in the small town.

"No of course not. I wouldn't force anybody into religion." He shook his head as he spoke, "I wouldn't be the right person to do that anyway, even though my family's religious, I'm not as into it as they are." Lance didn't say it, but since his time with Keith began, he had begun to question religion more than he did before.

"What do you mean?" Hunk asked, confused by what Lance said.

Lance shrugged, "I just don't like how hypocritical it is. It's supposed to be meant for good, but you feel so closed out by it." He explained what he thought, but not all of it. He wanted to change the subject before he felt that it got awkward.

"Pidge, you're friends with Keith's brother right?"

They nodded, "Ya, my brother Matt is really good friends with Shiro, they went to school together. I met Keith through him." As Pidge spoke, Keith moved a bit, his fingers touching the tips of Lance's but neither of them moved.

Lance looked down at their fingers but back up at Pidge and Hunk.

"I knew you guys a bit, I remember you both from school, I think we're around the same age, aren't we?" He asked the pair.

Hunk nodded, "Yup, Pidge and I are the same age as you, Keith's just old." Lance laughed at this.

"I'm not that old! I'm barely even two years older than you guys."

Pidge spoke up, "You know, I wouldn't have thought that us three rejects would be here with you. I don't mean that to offend you, I'm glad you're with us. I guess it's just because we all have reputations."

Lance nodded, "If I'm being honest, I didn't think I'd ever be here with the three of you, but I'm also glad that I am. It's nice to be able to be myself with people." He smiled at the other two and then at Keith.

Hunk pulled his phone from pocket and looked at the time before he stood up from the bench, "I'm sorry that I have to go, but I have a curfew at midnight."

"Ya, I've gotta get going too." Pidge stood up when Hunk did, "It was night getting to talk to you more, Lance." They smiled and walked away with Hunk.

"Sorry that they brought up religion. I was hoping they wouldn't."

Lance smiled at Keith, "It's okay, I'm the pastor's son, it always comes up. They're more respectful about it than most people are." He turned himself so he wasn't facing where Hunk and Pidge were sitting, but now he was facing Keith with one leg on either side of the bench.

"It still doesn't mean they should, you have other qualities than your family." Keith copied Lance and moved so he was also straddling the bench like Lance so that they were facing each other. When he did, he moved closer to Lance as well but not close enough to be disregarding personal space.

Lance stared at Keith, not for any particular reason and it wasn't awkward, even when Keith stared back, they didn't say anything.

Slowly, yet naturally, they moved closer together. Their noses were inches apart now, Lance could feel his heartbeat spreading up, he could feel Keith's breath on his lips and nose.

"You're very close to me right now." Lance's voice was quiet, he didn't need to speak loudly for Keith to hear. It was barely above a whisper. Soft but a bit shakey with anticipation of the situation.

"Do you want me to back away?" Lance didn't even notice that Keith's gaze was focused on his lips until he looked up to make eye contact.

Everything that Lance had been taught about how a man having feelings towards another man was wrong, the views his family had of him, even the reputation he had around the Kogane's family came into his mind. All of them were telling him to say yes to Keith's question, to have Keith back away but he knew that wasn't what he wanted, he wanted this.

"No." Lance shook his head, "I don't want you to back away." Lance moved his hand and placed it on top of Keith's which was supporting his weight on the bench as he was leaning forward.

Keith smiled and released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, slowly he moved closer to Lance.

Keith was cautious, he knew that Lance most likely hadn't ever kissed another man or even in a situation with one that could have been deemed intimate. He didn't want to scare him, he wanted to do this on Lance's terms. He moved slowly so that Lance could back out at any time if he wanted to.

"Is this okay?" The hair that rested on Keith's forehead was tickling Lance's face from the closeness of the two boys.

Lance nodded, without realizing it he began to lean in too.

"Is this okay?" When Keith asked, they were close enough that his lips would touch Lance's, each time it sent the butterflies in Lance's stomach flying.

Lance didn't bother nodding this time, he was the one who finally pressed their lips together, no more gentle grazing, now they were pushed together in a kiss. Keith moved his hand so that instead of having Lance's hand resting on his, he could hold his hand.

Lance pulled away slowly, he didn't understand his thoughts. The kiss felt amazing, he was happy, but his feelings were conflicting with his thoughts that were relating to the teachings he'd had about a situation like this and how it was a sin.

"I have to go back home." Lance quickly left the bench, he knew he would have left Keith confused and alone and he did feel bad, but he didn't know what else to do.

\-----

Later as he laid in his bed trying to sleep, his phone kept going off, he knew they were all from Keith without even looking.

He'd been texting him ever since he left, he was asking if Lance was okay.

He sighed and picked up his phone, to help calm Keith he texted back: I'm okay, I'm just confused.

The texts continued through the night and so did the conflict between his emotions and his thoughts.


	6. 6

It had been over a week. Lance and Keith had their kiss in the park nine days ago, after that everything between them had changed. LAnce didn't respond to any of Keith's texts, he was too

At church two days after the kiss, Lance didn't speak to Keith, he tried to avoid him at all costs, he was too confused about the situation and about his religious struggles to have a conversation with him.

Now, once again on a Sunday, he'd be at church and he'd see Keith again, there was no way around it. His parents wouldn't let him miss church, and if the Kogane's were still trying to 'lead Keith to a holy life' there was no way he'd be able to miss it either.

Lance knew that he wanted to see Keith, he wanted to be able to tell him that he was sorry but he couldn't.

Usually, in a church service, Lance tried to stay sitting down the whole time and be present for the whole hour, but he couldn't. His mind wouldn't let him rest, he turned and looked at his mom, "I need to use the washroom." He didn't need to, but he needed to get out of here and try to relax his mind.

His mom looked displeased with this, "Mijo, can't you wait?"

Lance shook his head, "No, mamá." Selene sighed and waved her hand telling Lance that he could go. He thanked her and quickly stood up, awkwardly walking down the aisle. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he walked, especially Keith's. He knew that he was watching him, he knew that he wasn't questioning why he was walking out of the service, he was wondering why Lance hadn't spoken to him. He walked faster once he saw Keith watching him, he wanted to leave any awkwardness behind and get to the washroom.

It was just down the hallway from the main section of the church where the service was being held so it didn't take long to get to it.

Lance walked over to the sink and rested his hands on the counter to hold him up as he leaned forward and looked at himself in the mirror. He had faint dark circles around his eyes, his face was splotchy from crying, not over anything that Keith did since he did nothing wrong, but over what he did to Keith. Overall, he looked like a mess.

He turned the tap on with cold water and cupped his hands to splash some water onto his face, usually, it helped him to calm down. He splashed himself three times and with the water running he didn't hear the door open and close.

"You look like shit." Lance gasped and turned around quickly, he hadn't had a chance to dry his face so some drops were still running down his cheeks to his chin where they'd drip off and fall onto the floor. When he turned he saw Keith leaning against one of the washroom stalls with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You scared me, don't do that." He stepped over to the paper towel dispenser and used some to dry his face and hands.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" That was the one question Lance didn't want to get today.

"I'm not." He shrugged, he wouldn't make eye contact with Keith, they both knew he was lying.

"Lance, I'm gay, I'm not dumb. You're lying to me and you're avoiding me. I want to know why. Please, just tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it. If this is about the kiss, I'm sorry. You'd said it was fine then, so I kissed you, but if your mind has changed I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you." Keith pleaded and stepped closer. Lance tried to step back but he hit the counter and couldn't go anymore.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lance stepped to the side and headed for the door, he didn't even get to touch the handle before Keith grabbed Lance's should and turned him around, pinning him to the door with one hand on either side of Lance's head.

He was shorter, but not by much so he was close to eye-level with Lance.

Lance's heart rate sped up and his breathing got shallow.

"Lance, please," Keith begged. After hearing the desperation in Keith's voice, Lance gave in.

He sighed and then took a breath, prepping himself for what he was about to say. "I'm sorry that I haven't been answering your texts. This is but also isn't about the kiss. You're right, I said it was fine, and it is. I'm not mad at you for that or anything else." Keith moved his hands so he wasn't pinning the door closed anymore, he took a step back to give Lance space.

"My whole life I've been told that liking boy is wrong, kissing boys is even worse. I don't know what to do. I like you, Keith. I really really like you, but I can't."

"But you can, Lance. A book that was written hundreds of years ago shouldn't define how you're allowed to feel, you're allowed to like boys, you're allowed to kiss boys. You're allowed to, you're not prohibited to do that."

Lance groaned, "This is so wrong, we can't do this."

"Then why does it feel so right?" Lance didn't have an answer to Keith's response, he was right, it did feel right. It felt natural, it felt like it was supposed to happen.

Keith ran a hand through his hair, "If you feel like you shouldn't be with me, you don't need to. If you want to follow what a book says, you can. But I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that it's what you want and that you'll be happy."

Lance stayed silent.

"Lance, will you be happy if you follow what the bible says you can do?"

"No." He mumbled as he shook his head, his voice could barely be heard, Keith had just barely caught it.

"If you're not going to be happy, why are you following that then? Religion meant for people to feel better about themselves and society, they should be happy with the result. You shouldn't be limiting yourself because of it." Keith stepped back, "I'm not trying to tell you that you have to be with me, I'm not trying to make you chose now and you don't even have to choose. I just want you to be happy, that's all. Whether I'm in the scenario that makes you happy or not I don't care, because you'll be happy."

Lance held eye contact for a while he knew that he had made his choice. He smiled at Keith and moved towards him, pressing their lips together for their second kiss. This kiss wasn't like the first, the first was cautious and tender. This one, while still gentle, had more passion and more feelings involved.

Lance pulled away from the kiss and smiled at Keith, "I want to be with you. I'll be happy if I'm with you, but, I can't promise that I won't still have times when I get in my head."

Keith smiled, "That's okay, I'm just glad I'll be with you." Lance smiled and turned to open the door, but their smiles both dropped when Keith's father was standing right by the other side with his arms crossed over his shoulders.

The doors were thin enough, that they knew he heard the conversation.

"Boys, you have some explaining to do."


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late, my classes have started up again and so has my work so I haven't had as much free time to write. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise the wait won't be this long for the next one.
> 
> Trigger warning: This chapter deals with intense homophobia and arguments being caused because of it. It also talks about yelling and verbal abuse. If this offends you, please skip through until you see a line of bold stars like this  
> **********

I'm sorry this is so late, my classes have started up again and so has my work so I haven't had as much free time to write. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise the wait won't be this long for the next one.

Trigger warning: This chapter deals with intense homophobia and arguments being caused because of it. It also talks about yelling and verbal abuse. If this offends you, please skip through until you see a line of bold stars like this

**********

They were caught, they both knew it. There was nothing they could do, there was no way to explain what Mr. Kogane had just heard. Lance looked down at the floor, he hadn't been stared at the way Keith's father was staring at him, he hadn't felt that much hatred from a single stare before. Keith, on the other hand, was staring his father right back in the eyes. He'd felt this shame before, it didn't affect him like it affected Lance.

"I expected something like this from you, Keith. But Lance, how can you be the same abomination that he is? How can you go against the Lord's words, especially in a place as holy as this with a family as holy as yours?"

"Leave him out of this, Dad." Keith stepped forward to confront him and also as a way to try to protect Lance.

"I will not. He's an abomination like you." He glared at his son, "I bet you turned him to sin, didn't you?"

Lance stepped forward, he didn't have time to think before he did, his body moved before his mind could realize that this was a bad idea.

"He didn't do anything, he didn't turn me to sin. I've always been like this, it's nothing you, or my family, or even God can change." Lance raised his voice to Mr. Kogane. He could see the shock in his and Keith's face as he spoke, neither of them had ever seen or heard of Lance raising his voice to someone.

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me, young man!" He yelled at Lance, their voices weren't in the tone of an argument anymore, they weren't simply raised, now they were yelling at each other. The attendants of the service could likely hear at least some of it.

"Don't yell at him." Keith put his hands on his dad's chest and shoved him, not enough to make him fall, but enough to make him stumble.

"Wait until your family hears about this? How will the Pastor feel about his own son sinning? Or your family, think of what you're doing to them, the shame that you'll put them through."

Mr. Kogane looked like he realized something, quickly he grabbed a wrist of both the boys and walked them to the doors of the church.

Lance tried to fight back, but Mr. Kogane's grip was too strong, he was sure he had a red hand-print around his wrist from how tight he was hanging on. Eventually, Lance gave up, Keith didn't though, he kept fighting until his father pushed open the doors to the service.

This got everyone's attention and they all turned to look at the three who were standing in the doorway. Even Lance's father, Joseph, stopped his preaching at the interruption.

Selene stood up when she saw that Mr. Kogane was holding onto Lance.

"Mr. Kogane, sir, what's the meaning of this interruption?" Joseph asked.

"I have an announcement, something important to say."

"Can't it wait until after the service?"

Mr. Kogane shook his head, "I'm sorry, but no. This is too important, I would be disobeying the wishes of God if I kept this to myself at such a holy time."

Lance bowed his head, he knew what was coming, he knew that his family would learn about his sexuality in the worst way possible. Not only that but everyone who attended church would know, soon it would be spread over the whole town.

"These two boys have sinned. They've gone against the word of the Lord in this very church." Whispers and murmurs were spread throughout the audience, "We've all known of my son's indecency, but now the McClain boy too."

"Sinned how?" Selene asked, walking away from her family and towards her husband at the front of the church.

"They're engaged in an unholy relationship, two men. I don't know the extent to the relationship nor if they have sinned by laying together, we may be lucky and able to stop it early."

Lance looked up from the ground towards his family, Veronica looked shocked, but she didn't look angry. His father shared a similar expression to Veronica, but his mother didn't show any emotion, she was stoic and no one knew what she was thinking. That, to Lance, was the most terrifying thing.

Selene walked down the aisle towards the three men at the doorway, she didn't look at Lance as she spoke, "I'll take Lance back home, we won't be in attendance for the ending of the service, please, continue on."

Mr. Kogane let go of Lance's wrist, his mother didn't need to grab ahold of it to convince Lance to follow her. He didn't want to shame her more than having the secret of his sexuality shown and having her need to leave service already had. He followed her without either of them saying anything.

**********

(If you skipped until now, Lance and Keith were outed in their relationship, Lance was outed to his family and he left the church with his mom before the end of the service)

The car ride home was silent, the whole time, Lance was thinking of Keith, he was worried about what his parents would do or say to him. Yes, they'd already known about his sexuality, but they didn't cope well with it.

Selene parked the car in front of their house, but she didn't unlock the doors, she pulled the key out oft he ignition and looked at Lance.

"How long have you known?"

Lance didn't look at her, he looked at his hands which were clasped together and resting in his lap, "Almost three years."

"How long have you been in a relationship with Keith?"

"It's complicated." He sighed, "A label was only put on it today, I didn't know Mr. Kogane was listening through the door."

Neither of them spoke for a bit, "We haven't sinned, Mamá. We haven't laid together, none of that." Lance felt tears at the back of his eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Mijo, don't apologize," She shook her head, "Don't apologize for something you can't change. You can't change you." She took a breath, "I never told you about my sister, your aunt."

Lance looked up at her, he had always thought his mom was an only child.

"She's like you, she's not straight. My mamá treated her terribly, I treated her terribly because religion said it was wrong. She moved away as soon as she could, I haven't talked to her since. I don't know where she lives, I have no way to contact her and how I treated her is my biggest regret." A tear rolled down her cheek, Lance could see another tear forming in her other eye, it was ready to fall too.

"Religion is not something to lose family over, I'm not going to lose you because of it."

Lance let a tear fall, he felt it hit his hands, "Does papá know about her?"

"He does. He also knows how much I regret it." Lance assumed that his father ended the service early since he saw his neighbour's car pull up to their house, they went to the same church. His dad and Veronica both got out of it. He and his mom had taken their car back with them. It was an oversight they didn't think of when they left.

Lance unlocked his door and got out of the car, Veronica ran over to him and hugged him, "You should have told me."

When she pulled away, Lance's dad was standing in front of Lance.

"We may not understand it, your mother and I were taught that it's a sin, we taught you and Veronica that it's one as well. It does say that in the bible, but the bible also talks about acceptance and love. We love you and we support you."

Lance felt another tear roll down his cheek.

"It may take time for us to get used to, but we support you and it's okay. It's okay." Lance bowed his head and started to cry, he wasn't sad, that's not why he was crying. He was crying because of the acceptance that he never thought he'd get. His shoulder shook with his sobs. Joseph stepped forward and hugged Lance, holding him tightly in the embrace.


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> Keith comes to Lance's house in the middle of the night due to not feeling safe at his parent's house. Lance's parent's allowed him to stay the night and he and Lance talk about how they're glad they met, but they wish it was under different circumstances. Not in ways of wishing they hadn't met through their families, but that their family scenarios were better for both of them, mainly Keith.  
> Keith brings up the idea of getting his own apartment since he has money from when he's worked while living with Shiro and his Aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER HAS A POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING  
> I'm leaving a summary since this chapter talks about abuse. It doesn't talk about the abuse happening at that moment, but it mentions bruising.  
> If this triggers you, please do not read this chapter. I don't want anyone feeling uncomfortable.
> 
> Please read the summary instead of the chapter if you think you'll be affected by reading these topics.

Lance stayed awake all night, he was texting Keith trying to get a response but he couldn't. None of the texts were even read. Lance knew that it was bad, while his family was alright with it, he knew that Keith's weren't. He'd known that from the first time he met Keith, his parents were talking about his "sinful ways". He was sure that they were even madder that he was in a relationship with a guy currently, and that guy just happened to be the Pastor's son.

It was eleven o'clock now and he was about to get up and out of bed when he felt his phone vibrate in his hand.

He looked at the text and let out a relieved sigh when he saw it was from Keith,   
'I'm okay.'

He quickly texted back,  
'Why haven't you been answering, I've been so worried!'  
He sat up and dangled his feet off the edge of his bed as he texted. He waited for the next reply since he could see that Keith was texting.

'Go to your front door.'   
Lance was confused but did as the text said. He went to the door and didn't see anything. Still, he knew Keith was serious when he texted that, so he opened the door and looked around, there he saw Keith standing beside the door. He was out of the way of the window which is why Lance couldn't see him when he looked out and could only be seen when he opened the door.

Keith looked tired, his eyes were red and his cheeks were a bit shiny which made Lance believe that he'd been crying. He had a red mark on his cheek which Lance could only guess it was from his parents, he didn't want to think about that though. The thought of Keith being hurt made Lance feel sick when he thought about it.

"Oh my gosh, Keith. I was so worried when you weren't answering. I was scared you were hurt." Lance hugged Keith as he buried his head into the crook of his neck.

Keith rubbed Lance's back soothingly, "It's okay, I'm here. I'm not hurt. I'm okay."

"Lance, honey, why is the door open?" Lance could hear his mom calling from the foyer, he and Keith were out of view so she wouldn't have been able to see them. Lance pulled away from the hug and looked at Keith.

"How did she react, should I leave?" Keith questioned. Lance shook his head quickly.

"She's fine, you need to come in." Lance grabbed Keith's hand and pulled him into the view of the door so his mom could see both of them.

"Oh, Keith." She looked shocked, but then she gave him a warm and comforting look.

"Mamá, he can't stay at his house. Not tonight. Can he stay here, please?" She looked confused, but she also had the same assumptions that the Kogane house was not a safe place for Keith, so she nodded.

"Keith, come on in." He smiled at Lance then at her and walked into the house, thanking her. The three of them talked for a bit and soon Lance's father joined into the conversation as well, Keith explained that he couldn't go back home tonight since his parents were so upset about what happened at church today.

Eventually, they decided that Keith could stay in the spare bedroom next to Lance's room. His parents went to sleep soon after, they worked early the next morning.

Lance and Keith stayed up for a bit, both of them were in Lance's room talking until one of them decided they'd go to bed. Lance was laying back on his bed, his head resting on the pillow and Keith was laying beside him, his right hand was on Lance's chest while his head was resting on Lance's shoulder. Lance was rubbing his back soothingly.

"I didn't want to bring this up, but I think we both know I have to..." Lance paused, "You have a mark on your cheek, it's from them, isn't it? Your parents?"

Keith didn't say anything, but Lance could feel him nodding on his shoulder.

"Do they do it often?"

"Not as much now, they thought the church was helping, that you were helping. I'm scared to go back." Keith explained as he nuzzled his head closer into the crook of Lance's neck.

"Then don't. I'm sure my parents would understand, they'd let you stay in the guest bedroom." Lance pulled Keith closer.

While Keith liked the idea of living with Lance, this wasn't how he wanted it, "I don't want to be a burden on your family. They didn't have to take me in tonight but they did. I can't repay them by living here."

"Well, until you find something you can do to get out of your house I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Keith was silent for a bit, "I could get an apartment, a cheap one. I was working when I was at Shiro's and I have a bank account my parents don't know about, I can use money from there to pay. I'll get a job again."

As Lance thought about it he realized it was a good idea, Keith's parents wouldn't be able to control him since he's above eighteen and wouldn't be in their house anymore. They were both silent, both thinking about the idea.

"A part of me wishes we met in different circumstances." Keith mumbled, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we met, but I wonder what would have been different if our families were different."

Lance hummed in agreement, "But if our families were different, if my dad wasn't the pastor, then your parents wouldn't have spoken to my family and we wouldn't have met. It's bad circumstances, but I don't think we would have met if we didn't." Lance explained, "I wish some aspects were different, I wish your parents treated you better, I wish the town's view of us wasn't terrible, but some things I'm thankful for." He looked at Keith as he spoke, his nose nearly touched Keith's as he did.

Keith sat up from where he was and just as Lance was about to question why he moved he leaned forward so that he could press his lips to Lance's. It started slow, it was cautious like their first kiss, but it began to pick up momentum each time their lips moved with each other. Keith cupped one side of Lance's cheek and jaw with one hand, the other was used to support himself as he knelt over Lance to kiss him. One of Lance's hands was resting on Keith's shoulder, the other slowly began to play with Keith's hair. It was softer than he expected it to be.

The kiss continued to get more and more passionate as it went on until Keith pulled away panting lightly.

"Making out with you is not the way I should be thanking your parents for having me over. I'm not sure they'd like that."

Lance shrugged, blushing as he spoke, "But, you can thank me."

Keith laughed at this, "What have I done to you? A month ago and you wouldn't even think of saying anything remotely bad, now you say that."

"Are you complaining?"

"Not at all." Keith laid back down with Lance, not kissing him, but just laying with him until Lance eventually fell asleep.

Keith got up carefully, he didn't want to wake Lance up by moving too much so he was very cautious as he sat up. He smiled at Lance and pulled the blankets over his body to keep him warm and went to the guest room where he'd be sleeping.

As he laid down, he was thinking of his parents, about the apartment he was wanting to get, and he was thinking about Lance.   
Still, in his mind with every thought, his parents were there. He didn't feel bad for leaving, he was glad he came to Lance's house, he was just worried since he knew at some point, he'd have to go back.


	9. 9

When Lance woke up, Keith was with him. This was only odd since Keith didn't sleep in his room last night, they didn't share a room, yet here he was.

Keith was already awake, he felt Lance move when he woke up, so he smiled and looked at him

"Keith, what are you doing here? I'm not upset, just surprised." Lance smiled at Keith as he questioned him, he liked waking up with Keith beside him.

"I woke up not long ago. I wanted to see if you were awake yet, but when you weren't, I didn't want to wake you up so I just laid with you." Keith explained to Lance with a smile. Lance moved over so he was closer to Keith, he rested his head on Keith's chest since Keith was laying on his back. Keith wrapped one arm around Lance and held him close.

They didn't speak, they just sat in the silence but it wasn't awkward. It was comforting, their lives were both filled with so much chaos that it felt nice to be able to have time to themselves, time to relax and not have to worry about what others thought of them. They were the only things that mattered, no one could tell them otherwise.

"I'm going to look at apartments today." Keith mentioned, Lance could hear his heartbeat rise as he spoke about it.

"I don't want to have to listen to my parents, they shouldn't be able to control me anymore."

Lance didn't say anything at first, he hummed in agreement with Keith's statement and cuddled closer towards him.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Moving can be stressful, I want to make it less stressful for you."

"You can come to help me chose one." Keith suggested but quickly added on, "Not in the way that you'd be living there with me, but if you help me chose then the process will be easier. I won't have to sort the good from the bad myself."

Lance nodded and smiled at Keith, "I'll come with you, but let's cuddle a bit more first."

\-----

Lance and Keith were walking around the town since it was much smaller than a regular city, the town didn't have any other public transit other than taxi's and neither of them wanted to pay each time they went to see an apartment. They'd been to three already but none of them seemed right. Some were too big and Keith couldn't afford to live in them, and some were under maintenance and would need work that Keith couldn't do.

They'd spent two and a half hours looking already since they were walking between them. They'd already gotten lost a few times, but nothing they couldn't find their way out of.

Lance learned on this day that Keith is not good at reading maps. It wasn't even paper maps, it was on his phone but he wasn't good at navigating.

"There are three more apartments that I wanted to look at, the next one's close by." Keith explained as he looked at his phone.

"Are you sure it's close by or is this a repeat of the second one we saw?" Lance joked which earned a glare from Keith. Lance jokingly put his hands up in surrender and watched as Keith went back to his phone and concentrated on the destination. His eyebrows furrowed and he was staring so intensely at the phone that Lance was sure it was going to burst into flames at any moment.

Keith took Lance's hand and lead him down the road where they turned yet another corner, at this point Lance thought they were just going in circles around the same block until they finally arrived at an apartment building.

"This is the one we were looking for." Keith explained as he looked between his phone screen and the building to compare and make sure that it was the same one.

Lance held off from making another joke about Keith's terrible navigational skills and walked with him to the apartment main entrance.

"We're here to look at an open apartment that you have?" Keith explained to the obviously overworked and underappreciated lady who was waiting at the main floor of the apartment. He had called ahead of time to say he was looking for apartments so she had known he would be here to see it.

She popped the bubble she'd just blown with her bubble gum and handed him some papers. "Okay, I'm the landlady here, I'll show you to the open apartment. These are forms about our rules and regulations if you do choose to stay here. No animals, play your rent on time, that sort of stuff."

She motioned for them to follow her as she walked to the elevator, which conveniently was already on the first floor where they were. Once inside she selected the third floor out of a total of eight.

She didn't say anything on the ride up and neither did the boys. They didn't want to make the already awkward encounter more awkward by possibly saying the wrong thing.

The hallway was long and painted an off-white colour but not a super strong off-white. Keith thought it may have actually been painted white originally but began to slowly get darker with time. There were brown doors on either side that lined the hall, each, of course, is a different room.

"The place you're looking at is the apartment room 328." She led them down the hallway as she spoke, "They're not fully furnished, but there are some things such as kitchen appliances that we supply and one couch which the last owner left behind. If you want the couch you can take it." She unlocked the door and revealed the apartment.

The walls were painted a light brown colour, one that resembled coffee after some cream was poured into it, the floor was a black tile and the roofs were white.

It wasn't a huge space, but there were three definite rooms, two of which were smaller. One for a bathroom since there were already toilet supplies and of course a toilet and shower in there, the other smaller one would be for a bedroom and the one main one which had a couch on the farthest wall from where the three of them were standing at the door was the living room.

Keith stepped into the apartment and looked around, on the opposite side of the couch and resting on the same wall which had the door to enter the apartment was the fridge, stove, and microwave.

There was no bed in the bedroom, but he'd be able to take the one from his house. Once he was gon his parents would have no use for it

After looking around, Keith noticed that this apartment would need the least amount of work out of the few he'd already seen. It was a bit pricier than the other two, but nothing he couldn't handle, especially after he got a job and wouldn't be relying on the savings that he had gotten while living with Shiro.

Lance walked over to Keith and grabbed his hand, "What do you think?"

Keith turned and looked at the landlady, "I'll take it."

"Okay, the first payment will be needed this week for confirmation, it's the amount of one month's rent. It's the deposit so I know you'll actually stay here and not just abandon it. Rent is due on the last day of each month." Explained, her voice was still relatively monotonous, but there was a bit more excitement this time but it was barely noticeable.

Keith and the landlady went through the deposit amount and figured out how he'd be able to pay, and after they did, Keith and Lance began the walk back to Lance's house. It wasn't too far, maybe a twenty-minute walk.

"Thank you for coming with me." Keith smiled as Lance as they walked.

The two turned the corner onto Lance's street, "Of course. I told you I would." As they walked, they noticed a car parked in front of their house that wasn't there when he left.

It was a car that Keith knew too well.

"Whose car is that?" Lance questioned, his walking pace slowed down as he tried to identify the car.

Keith's pace didn't slow down at all though, he just stopped as soon as he recognized the car.

"That's my parent's car."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is later than normal, my college classes started and I've had less free time to write, but I still wanted to get a chapter out for you guys.


	10. 10

Lace took a hold of Keith's hand and walked to his house, he was holding Keith's hand since he thought he might need the support.

"You're moving, you don't have to live with them. They can't do anything." He explained to Keith, of course, Lance was nervous too but he tried not to let Keith see that.

"I move into the apartment in five days. I still have almost a week of living with them." Lance didn't speak, he knew Keith was right, but he also knew he didn't want Keith to go back to his house when his parents were treating him like this.

The boys got to Lance's front door which was unlocked but closed, his parents were likely speaking to Keith's about the situation. Of course, they didn't know that he was moving, but they knew about last night when Keith came to their doorway because he didn't feel safe.

Lance looked at Keith for reassurance that he could open the door, he wanted Keith to be ready.

As he opened the door, he heard his mother's voice, "That must be them." Footsteps followed and soon she was standing at the front door and greeting the boys. She smiled, but Lance could see she was uncomfortable in the situation.

She put her hand on Lance's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She looked at Keith after and her eyes gave an apology that she didn't speak.

Lance heard more footsteps and soon Keith's mom was standing beside his mother, "Keith, honey, you shouldn't have troubled these people last night." As she spoke she looked in between Keith and Lance with obvious disgust. She didn't try to hide it at all.

He saw Keith grimace when she called him honey obviously, that wasn't a normal name he was called.

"He really wasn't a bother." Lance's father spoke next, "He slept in our spare bedroom, it was nice to have someone occupy it."

"He could have let you rest rather than staying here, especially not after the scene he made at church. I apologize for that too, he pulled your poor son into his unholy thoughts."

Lance glared at Keith's mom as she spoke, he couldn't stay quiet anymore so he stepped forward in front of Keith and towards his mom, "He didn't pull me into anything. I chose to be in a relationship with him, my parents know that too so take your homophobic thoughts somewhere else."

Lance didn't normally snap at anyone, but he was tired of Keith's parents treating him horribly, especially when they said that he had basically forced Lance into a relationship which obviously wasn't true.

Mrs. Kogane narrowed her eyes and glared at Lance, she had given up her nice act, "You will not speak to me that way, young man."

Lance's mother stepped between them, "And you will not speak to my son in that way." The two women glared at each other. It was terrifying actually, they both looked like they were ready to kill at that moment. Everyone else had gone silent, possibly out of fear of what was going to happy, but mostly out of fear of what would happen if they did intrude on the murderous staring contest.

"I'm sure there's a calm and peaceful way we can solve this." Joseph broke the silence first, "Mr. and Mrs. Kogane, I can assure you that Keith didn't cause any trouble last night."

Mr. Kogane walked up to Keith and grabbed his arm, "We're leaving, Keith."

Keith pulled his arm back forcefully and glared at his dad. Now, Keith was staring at his dad and the two women still had a tense nature between them. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going back home. I got an apartment, I'm not living there anymore."

"Keith, we're not talking about this. We're going home." His mother turned and looked at him as she spoke.

Keith didn't back down, he stared right back at her, "That's not my home anymore."

His mom backed away from him and stepped over to his dad, "Fine. You're not living with us anymore, it's a burden off our shoulders. You're choosing a life where no one will love you, a life of sin and loneliness."

Lance walked beside Keith and grabbed his hand, he smiled at him supportingly and then turned to Keith's parents and his smile dropped quickly, "He's not choosing a life of loneliness or one where no one loves him because I'm here with him and I care about him."

Lance knew it was too early to say he loved Keith, he wasn't sure he did yet, but he knew his feelings were deep.

"He's never a burden, if you think that, then you're sorely mistaken and I feel bad for you."

Keith's parents didn't say anything but their glares at the others in the room said it all. All the hatred they'd stored up for years was showing through their eyes. They had a dark feeling to them, one of loss, but not in a sad way. This loss was the type you felt when you had lost to someone at something, it was the type of loss that was usually accompanied by anger.

Their glares continued as they headed for the door to leave. Mr. Kogane's shoulder his Lance's hard enough to make him stumble a bit, they both knew it wasn't an accident.

No one said a word as they left, Keith's parents didn't say anything to him nor did he to them. It was a silence that was soaking in many feelings, pride, hurt, loss, happiness, relief, anger, and every other emotion one could think of.

As the door closed Keith turned and embraced Lance, he felt his leg go week as he did, he wasn't usually one for public affection of any kind, especially not with parents or other adults around, but he didn't have control over himself. His emotions got the best of him and his shoulders shook with a broken sob. This confused him, he was glad to be out of his parent’s house yet he was feeling sorrow. Maybe it was sorrow for the broken family he wanted to fix, or for the anger he saw and felt from his parent’s eyes and words.

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and held him tight, whispering soothingly, "It's alright, you're okay. You don't have to worry about them, we're here." Lance felt himself getting choked up, even though he wasn't directly affected, having that many emotions in the room and such a wide range, from anger, to fear, to worry, to happiness, it was too much to handle but what got to him was seeing how it affected Keith.

"I'm here. I'm with you."


	11. 11 - Epilogue

It had been a year and a half since Keith bought the apartment, a year and a half since Keith had last spoken to his mom.

His dad had reached out to him, he still didn't accept Keith, but he apologized for what happened. When Keith went later that week after the final argument, Keith's mom just stood at the front door and pointed to all of Keith's things which were out on the driveway ready to be picked up. his father, however, had waited until his wife had gone back into the house and he went to see his son.

Keith and his father didn't talk much, but at Christmas and on his birthday he contacted him.

Lance's family still went to church regularly and his father was still the pastor. Keith would go with them sometimes, but he wasn't a regular attendant which everyone in the family was okay with. They understood why Keith wasn't always wanting to go, especially since his parents still went to the church.

He was also busy with work and wasn't always able to go to work. He was now working at a daycare centre for "troubled" kids. He liked being able to help out kids who were in a similar situation as he was.

It was Keith's birthday and he'd just gotten off the phone with his dad, it wasn't a long conversation, but it was enough for Keith. Still not as long as he'd hoped for, but it was longer than the last phone call.

Keith was pulled out of his thoughts about his parents when he heard a knock at the door.

"Coming." Keith called out as he walked to the door of the apartment. He lived in the same one he bought last year, he had a five-year lease but the apartment.

Keith opened the door and smiled when he saw Lance with the first box he was bringing today. Lance and Keith had been talking about it for the last few months and had finally decided that they were ready for that step.

"Happy birthday." Lance smiled at Keith

Keith smiled and took the box from Lance, setting it down on the floor. He smiled and hugged Lance, "Thank you."

Lance pulled back from the hug first and smiled at Keith, "I have more boxes to bring, some of them are in the car. I just thought I'd have that fun movie moment with one box that isn't really holding much."

Keith laughed at Lance's explanation of his reasoning for one box. Keith picked up Lance's solo box and walked it into the room they'd be sharing.

Rather than his twin bed that he used to have, he had bought a queen bed not long ago. His previous one was old and had some weird lumps, so he needed a new one anyway. Lance moving in was just the cherry on top of why he needed to get the new bed.

Unknowingly to him, Lance had followed him into the room which caused him to jump a bit when he felt Lance's hand wrap around his waist to hug him from behind. Lance rested his chin on Keith's shoulder.

"You're jumpy." Lance chuckled lightly, slightly tightening his grip on Keith in a comforting way.

"I'm not jumpy. You just scared me."

Lance put his head back and laughed loudly, "That's the definition of jumpy." During his laughing fit, Keith had turned around to face Lance. He cupped Lance's cheeks and kissed Lance in an attempt to get him to stop laughing.

This of course didn't work because now Lance was just laughing into Keith's mouth which was a very strange feeling.

Keith pulled away and made a face, his nose scrunched up to try to get across his disgust with the feeling he just had. Lance laughed and let go of Keith.

"C'mon, we gotta get the other boxes."

After a few hours of moving boxes up, and most of the day spent messing around and stealing kissing from the unsuspecting partners, they'd finally moved up and unpacked some of the boxes. The necessities were unpacked like hygienic things and some clothes, the rest which consisted of books and other things which just aided in hobbies were left for a later date.

Lance and Keith sat at a table across from each other, it was later in the evening than they'd planned to have finished moving everything up by, but they were happy either way.

Lance was sipping on his peppermint tea while Kieth was slowly drinking his coffee.

"I don't get why you drink coffee at night, how do you even sleep?" Lance set his tea down. It still hadn't fully hit him that he and Keith were living together. He'd stayed the night before and it just felt like another one of those nights. He had the excitement of a little kid sleeping over at their friend’s house for the first time.

"I don't care about sleep, I just need the energy." Keith replied quickly as he took another sip form his coffee. One other thing Lance didn't understand was how Keith drank black coffee, it was much too bitter for Lance's liking.

"But it's night, what do you need energy for?"

Keith didn't answer, but he raised his eyebrows suggestively at Lance who shook his head.

"You're nasty."

"No really, coffee doesn't affect me at night." Keith explained, "I think I'm immune to caffeine."

Lance sighed, "Then stop drinking it."

He didn't know what he was expecting Keith's response to be, but he didn't expect to see Keith look as offended at the idea of giving up coffee as he did.

"Never." Keith replied then promptly chugged the rest of his coffee. Lance was slower with his drink, he sipped it like you're supposed to sip an evening tea.

"I'm going to get ready for bed, come in when you're ready." Keith explained, he put his cup in the sink, he'd wash it tomorrow. As he walked around the table, he put his hand on Lance's shoulder comfortingly and then left the kitchen to their bedroom.

Lance still had a quarter of his tea left, but he decided that Keith was more important than the tea. He took his teabag out and put it in the trashcan and put his cup next to Keith's, the handles touching each other.

Lance walked over to the bedroom and saw Keith laying in the bed on his phone. Lance smiled as he thought about the fact that he could see this every night now, every night he and Keith could get to fall asleep next to each other.

Keith looked away from his phone and smiled at Lance, he pulled the covers down on Lance's side of the bed, which he always made very clear was the right side. Lance walked over, stripping himself down into just his underwear as he did, Keith always slept in sweatpants with no shirt, Lance couldn't sleep with pants on. He hated how they bunched up and when he woke up, somehow they'd always be at his thighs like shorts rather than pants.

Keith put his phone on the nightstand beside him and rolled over so he'd be facing Lance when he laid down.

"Hi."

Lance chuckled at Keith, "Hi." The pair were silent for a bit, both were just staring at each other in the silence, "I still can't believe that I get to be here every night. With you."

Keith nodded, "It's a good birthday present."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end of the book. I had a lot of fun writing this and loved the support that I got from you all.  
> I will be writing more fics on here. Maybe not all Klance but definitely more fics.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this with me.  
> Nate.


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